How traditions are made, Swedish camping 🏕⛺️

For my birthday I decided to push my comfort zone and go camping with our friends and family. The place was called Verkasjön, a little piece of paradise just an hours drive from our home town Malmö. My gorgeous Swedish cousin Tina (through marriage) suggested it.

As you would have seen from my instagram I had a Blair Witch moment in the tent that became a grooving moment. You could say that was the theme of the camping trip. We had meat, tunes and alcohol…. it was good!! Backstreet and New kids were making waves in the woods and we got to salsa it out to Despacito!

The Spotify Soul radio was playing and we did the mandatory stop at Maccy D’s en route as we chatted about our upcoming adventure. I explained to Roy, Kev’s step brother who was driving up with us, that camping was something I wanted to do but the irony was not lost on me.

After all there are two things black people don’t do – ski and camp!! I’m thinking with me being the only black person on the trip and hence no viking foraging blood in my veins it was less likely to become Cool Runnings part 2! 😳

I had camped once before but it was a very long time ago and I slept in a camper van with a double bed and there was proper showers and toilets nearby so it was no where close to this type of camping.

There was 24 of us in total – 14 adults, 10 children and our campsite was on a lake. It was magical.

We arrived just after midday, there was an awesome spot for us that had a built in grill and two large wooden tables. We set up all the tents straight away and then grilled some sausages for the kids – while cracking open the cans of beer and bottles of wine of course!! My beer hat and surprise wine necklace were ready for use.

The men went off to fish so the women could drink and prepare the food. But we realised we could just drink instead!

The kids decided to go looking at the different woodland creatures, I have to admit there was a large part of me hoping they’d find a baby Groot!!! I mean come on!!!!! Who doesn’t love baby Groot!

But no all the kids managed to find was frogs, toads and lizards. I’m starting to worry that my love of sci-fi is setting me up for eternal disappointment!

I set myself a challenge to make a fire 🔥 from scratch and I did it!! Albeit with the help of my awesome bro-in-laws. But no lighter and no coals just fire wood and shavings. I learnt how to stack the wood to let the fire grow! The men then took over while I prepped the corn. I love it when you buy fresh corn and have to peel it and break them up so fun. So does my nephew Kez who offered to help in this task, perfect timing as my throat was a little dry😜. The men then grilled the food and we dined like royalty.

“It was about that time that I realised”…..

So the time had come peeps. I was not feeling it but the child has ruined my bladder after all. I had no choice but to do one of the two things I had dreaded most about this trip … peeing. I went to find the perfect spot – checked for high weeds before bending down (nobody wants a tick down there) and began to pee…..

Well in the words of Chef from South Park’s dad …. “It was about that time that I realised” that when I turned my head ever so slightly to the left I could see everyone in camp which meant if they just so happened to look my way they would see me too!!

This wasn’t the last time either, later on I found a better spot that was behind our cars so feeling a little braver I pulled down the pants and went to it (peeing) the air on my butt made me think “oh check you out Lish!!” I didn’t even check for high grass strands. But again as I took a scan I realised anyone in a boat or walking down by the lake would be able to see me mooning them!!!

Moooving on….I think my attitude to embrace things I would normally not do kept me positive on this adventure, which mainly in part to becoming a mum. Mainly because I don’t want Eva to inherit my fears. I’d rather her develop them on her own – if that makes sense. As a result I have become a lot more tolerant of spiders and flies. I even came to grips with my clown fear although I’m sure if that’s because the new IT is just not scary or because now I know the original it was Tim Curry and I love him in Home Alone!

I continued to embrace the ambience as the sun started to set over the lake it was, breathtaking. All the mums took off to sit on the dock with vodka and wine. We chatted as we made our way to the docks and again I was feeling brave. I loudly observed the crazy fact that there was an abandoned car near to the dock only to be told by my sis in law that a tent was a stones through away from it.

I don’t care what they say it was not a bark…..

It’s surprising how brave one can get after a few cans of beer and red wine.

I let the others walk in front and I talked to myself about how amazing the woods are and how I need to continue to push myself because this is my 34 year and I’m gonna keep surprising me.

Literally strutting with pride I hear a howl and I morph into Usain Bolt. I run into the middle of the girls my fight or flight is GOOOD. Not only did I move like lightning, I strategically placed myself in the middle of the group. That way I would be one of the last to be attacked by the manbeast!!

I was totally freaked out but the girls were just laughing at me!!! I don’t care what they say it was not a bark it was a howl and therefore, we can not conclude it was not a manbeast!!

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I pulled myself together sat on the dock with my girls and chatted the last of the sunlight away. We laughed, got deep and even played morse lights with a party across the lake, which I now realise was a perfect start to a horror movie FACE

Then we headed back and rejoined the rest of the crew. One of us got lost for 2 mins and in that time called her husband to say she was lost, while another one texted her husband to ask if he wanted to see the stars. Hmmm I think that was code for something else.

The kids were all put to bed, well done men, and we sat and looked at the gorgeous stars and set the world to rights. I love being around my lovely family and friends. Everyone got on so well it was awesome. I love being able to laugh, theorise and debate without anyone taking offence. We told funny, serious and life changing stories while the fire died out.

Dragonflies ….. they are evil bullet headed assassins

This weekend a new tradition had been made. As a Leo baby a camping birthday celebration is perfect as the weather should in theory be good.My top tips for surviving the wilderness:

Beware of dragonflies they are evil bullet headed assassins!! They are large and in charge in the wilderness.

When a girl says to you “you wanna go see the stars” there’s more than likely a hidden message!!!😍

Make sure your sleeping bag is prepped for you to get into not fully unzipped if you plan to drink that night.😴

To get a good nights sleep, drink that night. 😴🍷

Before you take you pants down to pee as Ross Geller would say “take a QUICK scan!!”😱